the German kite mag tested the canopy materials in their latest issue. They tested the 2013 materials (from what I can see on the pics), but afaik most of the brands upgraded it for the 2014 kites... For Core they used the XR3 material (Core Tex).

They took new kites to test, rode them for 6 months and then tested them again. I put the results in the charts attached.

...would have been nice to see how Cabs own material performs, but they didn't test it.

The CoreTex of the new XR3 is available only since June 18th and the magazine state they have been testing it since 6 months??? I think they refer to the regular material of the XR2. Interesting anyway, thanks for sharing this.

That Kite-refit looks really impressive on the video. I wonder how long it lasts on a kite that is used a lot?

If it was not so expensive I would definitely try it. It would be nice for light wind days if you happen to drop your kite in the water.

Hi,

Don't forget that the coating on the fabric is here to protect the fiber to.So if you let go the coating, the fiber take all the U.V. and the fibers will be really burn , even if you put an other coating. It is not because it looks new, that it is really new.

An other point of view about the kite fabric:I think that you are not really interested by the kite fabric. Your problem is to have a solid kite. And as designer I can tell you that if I don't take care of the strut tension, the kite will be really fragile. Even if I put darcon reinforcement... So a solid kite is a well design kite first.

If the kite is cut since the LE to the TE just near a strut...May be it is not a fabric problems

I've heard that Cab went with Chinese cloth for their canopies. Much cheaper I would imagine than Teijan (although if true, they don't reflect the savings with better end prices!) I've also noted some different coatings on new kites (re: new LF) that should extend life of the kites at a minimal weight gain. Any one with knowledge of these changes?

Marlborough Man: I use Nylon spinnaker material, usually 3/4 oz, and a canvas basting tape. You can't buy Teijin or OEM materials in small quantity, and for clean rips, you don't need to really. Two strips of 3/8 in tape in parallel, tape the inside, and ur right, it looks pretty invisible on the outside of the kite. One fat zigzag won't cut it however. You need a cheap dressmaker machine with a triple zigzag stitch, and sew each 3/8 tape strip. Make sure u use small needles and the right thread. I only use my industrial for leading edge and strut repair, and hunt yard sales for old singer all metal home machines (and the Japanese knock offs) for canopy repair. Since canopy repair is 80% of my time, I'd hate to trash my $2000 dollar industruial, when a disposable $20 yard sale machine does the trick!

My understand has always been that the coated fabrics have more stretch and as a result tend to rip less from crashes. I don't know if a tensil test would really demonstrate a higher breaking point between a coated sample and an uncoated sample. My guess is it would not since the same force would be applied evenly and linearly to both samples. I suspect maybe this is why the test results posted earlier showed brands like best ranking so low.

Uncoated T9600 from what I have experienced has very little stretch and can tear more easily on impact because the various impact forces can't be absorbed and distributed evenly across the canopy. I suspect the messy tear lines that show up on these newer materials is very good evidence that the material did stretch signficantly before finally tearing. I have heard this complicates the repair process as stretched material must be cut out which translates to larger repairs and an increased risk that the canopy will not be the right shape anymore.

The other benefit from a coating is UV and abrasion protection. Considering how much salt and UV kites get exposed to I think its a great idea to have coated canopy materials. These coatings also help repel water which seems to help prevent color bleeding and staining as well as just keep the colors overall nice and vibrant even after several years.

For the record I'm not sponsored but I choose to fly Cabrinha kites primarily because they seem to hold up better than anything else. My guess is other brands who are copying the same ideas Cabrinha came up with 3-4 years ago will also start to hold up better as they age as well.

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